National Film Registry Adds ‘The Matrix,’ ‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s’

"Breakfast at Tiffany's," "The Matrix," "Dirty Harry" and "A Christmas Story" are among 25 movies that have been selected to be preserved in the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress.

"These films are not selected as the ‘best’ American films of all time, but rather as works of enduring importance to American culture," The Librarian of Congress James H. Billington said in a statement. "They reflect who we are as a people and as a nation."

The selections represent a wide range of genres and eras. They include a 1914 version of "Uncle Tom's Cabin," notable for having the first black actor to star in a feature-length American film, to more recent works like 1992's baseball comedy "A League of Their Own." Their is also a mixture of classic studio films like "Born Yesterday" and indie features such as "Slacker" and "Two Lane Backdrop." Documentaries include "The Times of Harvey Milk," about San Francisco’s first openly gay elected official, and "One Survivor Remembers," a short about the Holocaust.

This year’s selections bring the number of films in the registry to 600. The Librarian makes the annual selections to the registry after reviewing hundreds of titles nominated by the public and conferring with Library film curators and members of the National Film Preservation Board.

Films Selected to the 2012 National Film Registry:

3:10 to Yuma (1957)
Anatomy of a Murder (1959)
The Augustas (1930s-1950s)
Born Yesterday (1950)
Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961)
A Christmas Story (1983)
The Corbett-Fitzsimmons Title Fight (1897)
Dirty Harry (1971)
Hours for Jerome: Parts 1 and 2 (1980-82)
The Kidnappers Foil (1930s-1950s)
Kodachrome Color Motion Picture Tests (1922)
A League of Their Own (1992)
The Matrix (1999)
The Middleton Family at the New York World’s Fair (1939)
One Survivor Remembers (1995)
Parable (1964)
Samsara: Death and Rebirth in Cambodia (1990)
Slacker (1991)
Sons of the Desert (1933)
The Spook Who Sat by the Door (1973)
They Call It Pro Football (1967)
The Times of Harvey Milk (1984)
Two-Lane Blacktop (1971)
Uncle Tom's Cabin (1914)
The Wishing Ring; An Idyll of Old England (1914)